Lieberman Talks Tough On Iran

According to Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been using operatives from the radical Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah to train Iraqi Shiite militias, who in turn are responsible for the murder of American soldiers.

In addition, according to Brig. Gen. Bergner, groups of up to sixty Iraqi militants at a time have been taken out of Iraq and brought to Iran for military training at three camps near Teheran, where they have been instructed in the use of mortars, rockets, and improvised explosive devices. The Iranian government has also provided up to $3 million a month to fund attacks on U.S. troops and allies in Iraq.

In fact, Brig. Gen. Bergner also provided new evidence this morning that Iranian operatives helped plan a sophisticated ambush in January that resulted in the abduction and murder of five American soldiers.

These revelations should be a wake-up call to the United States about the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran—as well as a reminder why Iraq is, in fact, the central front of the global war on terror.

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The United States government has a responsibility to use all instruments at its disposal to stop these terrorist attacks against our soldiers and allies in Iraq—including keeping open the possibility of using military force against the terrorist infrastructure inside Iran.

Although no one desires a conflict with Iran, the fact is that the Iranian government by its actions has declared war on us. And while I sincerely hope that diplomacy alone can convince the Iranian government to stop these attacks, our diplomatic efforts are only likely to succeed if backed by a credible threat of force.